Inside the Belly of the Dragon
by Hadronix
Summary: Upon reaching Fort Dragonfall, Corrin and her army encounters Iago, who has used ancient magic to lock the army inside of the remains of the dragon as well as magically kickstart its body. The stomach acid rises and there is a plentiful amount of fuel inside of it...


**Warning:** This one-shot contains the topics of: Gore, digestion, and a 'game over'.

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**A/N:** Uh… happy(?) Halloween! This is a rather twisted version of Chapter 20: Fort Dragonfall in the Birthright path. So… like with 'Her Last Song', this is a situation where Azura fails to fix the current problem with her plot song.

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Iago's laughter echoes in Corrin's mind as she strikes down another one of the Faceless that forming out of the acid that is grouped up in puddles across the floor. The plan was simple… cross through Fort Dragonfall as a shortcut, arrive on the other side, and continue the war, but what she wasn't expecting was that Iago had planned ahead, and all exits have closed off with ancient dragon bones so strong that even a focused strike from her big brother's Rajinto wasn't enough to even chip the thing.

The entire army is relying on Azura's song to weaken the magic and hopefully dispel the acid. Not just any acid, but stomach acid. Iago somehow managed to grasp the magic required to kickstart this ancient dragon's stomach. The Faceless are not only immune to it, but they also spawn from it! There are Dragon Veins around to banish the acid, but they are **heavily** guarded.

And as if all of this wasn't bad enough, the acid is slowly creeping up higher. "Lady Azura!" Hana yelps as she ungracefully takes a blow in the Songstress's stead. "Ngh…" Despite having nothing more than a fist, the blow was enough to crack her blade and sending her crashing to the ground. Azura flinches, trying to discard all feelings to focus on her song.

Another pained gasp… Silas's horse falls down and the rider quickly moves away as his steed lands in a puddle. Corrin could hear the sizzling from where she was… the acid worked quickly as she could literally see the horse seeming to 'sink' into the puddle.

This is the remains of an ancient dragon, after all… this is **not** a creature that would eat a meal and rest. They would need the nutrients as fast as possible, so their digestive system complements that need.

Corrin grimaces, before sidestepping a Faceless, then countering with a slash. There… there has to be another source of magic here, one that is causing the Faceless to spawn! Corrin stabs a charging Faceless and it falls, though it was only with a force of adrenaline that she was able to push the corpse aside, lest it land on her.

"Haha! That's right… struggle!" Iago teleports in for a brief moment, just enough to taunt… and he's gone again.

"We… need someone…" Hana's cry for help stops as a Faceless crushes her chest… her rib bones jutting out of her back, and she'd been slammed so hard that she's now hunched inward at an unnatural angle.

No less than a second later, Azura's song stops. Without any proper defense, the Faceless went for what would be the cleanest and quickest kill in this place… it slammed a fist onto her head, instantly causing her neck to snap and her head to be bent in an unnatural angle.

"No…" Corrin breathes. "Maybe… maybe if we can…" That distraction was enough to cause her to be on the receiving end of a spiked gauntlet, her armor shreds open and blood immediately breaks free from its confines.

"Sister!" Ryoma lets out a rage-fueled slice and bisects the Faceless, then steps forward and takes down another one, then two, and… is blindsided by a Faceless that came out of nowhere.

"I've… got you!" Sakura squeaks as the shreds are mended and she's left with some terrible scars. "What's next?" She looks sick, not that Corrin can blame her.

"Dragon Veins, if we can…" No more needs to be said as the rest can be assumed. Get a way out of this first, get revenge later.

"Corrin, I…" Silas staggers, before getting a gut slam, causing him to fall into a puddle. He kept his head up, but his armor only provided a few second's reprieve before the stomach acid started greedily eating into his body.

Corrin can hear a faint grumbling sound, as if the ancient dragon is actually starting to come to life… and maybe it was. The grumbling sound was accompanied with a quick rise of acid. Almost the entire floor is covered with it.

Alright think, think… they can still make it out of this if… "Big sister!" Sakura dashes off with her Festal in hand as Hinoka's Pegasus is sniped down by, of all things, a large rock. By the time Hinoka regained control, the majestic beast had already slammed into one of the pillars. Rider and mount both land in a waiting puddle. Blunt-force trauma from the fall kept her from getting up in time.

"Hinoka…" Corrin feels tears sting her eyes. She didn't even have a chance to scream before a Faceless intercepts Sakura's emotion-fueled movement. "No, Sakura!" Corrin charges, but is aware enough to avoid a flanking strike…

Sakura's head, on the other hand, was all but smashed open by another Faceless.

No, no no no! Corrin growls and slices through the Faceless who tried to attack her… and cleaves straight through the one that just… "Sakura…" Gone, just like that.

"Ah-ha! How does it feel?" Iago… "All of these glorious nutrients for this great dragon… it's just a shame your bodies won't even give it the energy to let out a puff of smoke."

"If you think we'll let you get away with this…" Corrin declares, rage rising.

"Behind you." He smirks, then teleports away.

She turns to block an incoming… a Faceless spawns behind her **after** she turned and it slammed a fist into her back. "Ngh…" She falls. The Faceless then kicks her like a ball and she hits a wall, which is 'conveniently' located near a puddle. "**AH**!" She screams on reaction… something she regrets the second she does it, as stomach acid greedily jumps into her mouth.

"Sister!" Ryoma shouts, but even with the speed that a Swordmaster is known for, he was unable to reach her before the acid had already devoured a chunk of her armor and opened her inside for the acid to jump into.

Armor, skin, muscle, bone, organs… all of it quickly became fuel for the burning acid. Pain fueled every part that it touched. Moving hurt, but… and perhaps thankfully, the acid soon ate straight through her vitals.

Silence.

And as such, all that remained from Corrin's army were three Divine Weapons, and one amulet.


End file.
